Monday, September 7, 2020

Make Rockman Crowdfunding Campaign is Live


The Make Rockman campaign is now live on the Japanese crowdfunding portal Makuake. We got a sneak peek a few days ago but now with the campaign live, we have all the details on this curious project. All the info after the break!




The crowdfunding campaign starts today and will remain live for 43 days. The pledge goal is 1 million Yen (Aprox 7,945€ - $9,408) and the product will be delivered at the end of November to backers. Regardless if the campaign is successful or not, payment will be completed by October 20 which might suggest this is more a campaign to measure how many units they have to produce than a genuine crowdfunding campaign.

Let's take a look at the different pledge tiers.



Tier 1 (Limited to 50 backers) SOLD OUT
-20% discount
Final Price: 18,040 Yen

Tier 2 (Limited to 100 backers) SOLD OUT
-10% discount
Final Price: 20,295 Yen

Tier 3 (Limited to 350 backers)
Makuake discount 1,000 Yen off
Final Price: 21,550 yen Yen



Make Rockman is an officially-licensed Rockman product, developed by Artec using their proprietary Artec Robo 2.0 technology and block-based visual programming language "Scratch". The guidebook has 212 full-color pages, written by educational company "Gakken".

The guidebook is written to be easy to understand for children and the estimated learning time is around 20 hours. The book not only contains necessary info to learn how to use Make Rockman, but also basic knowledge to help users create their own games. Beyond that, the book also contains a section called "game creator's work" to give you some insight of the video game developer profession.






By arranging the Artec Robo 2.0 kit in a specific way, you can unlock special stages where you can control Proto Man and Dr. Wily! The game will also include the option to play against another person. For example, two players can play against each other as Rockman and Dr. Wily if they have two Artec Robo 2.0 devices, with one assembled as the Rock Buster and the other as the Wily Machine.




The Arc Robo 2.0 is equipped with a gyro sensor that lest you control the characters via motions with your hands or your whole body. Thanks to bluetooth capabilities, you don't need to have it wired to your PC.





Make Rockman uses Scratch 3.0 and among the many things you can do, it's also possible to recolor sprites or change special weapons by inserting one of the Artec Robo 2.0 pieces in the main unit.




This project started with the collaboration of two Rockman fans: Masaki Kato from Artec and Miki Hashizume from Gakken. 

Rockman was one of the official supporting characters for the "2018 GP League Programming Coliseum" which likely was the seed for this project to happen.

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And that's pretty much it! You can see a few more images and gifs on the crowdfunding page if you're interested. It's yet to be seen just how much you can do with Make Rockman and the amount of assets from the game available to users. Nevertheless, this is an interesting project that is unlikely to reach western shores. 

The crowdfunding campaign is already a success with 3.4 million Yen raised and 170 backers at the time of this writing. With 43 days left, it will be interesting to see how many people end up backing the project after the initial burst of excitement.

Let us know what do you think in the comments!

15 comments:

  1. I wouldn't fund it. Not after being burned by a certain someone.

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    Replies
    1. i liked MN9!



      kinda

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    2. I paid 60 dollars for a game that's not happening - the 3DS version. I'm still mad.

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    3. Anon1, i did'nt dislike it either. It was decent, not perfect sure, but decent. What i'm salty about is not the game itself, but how the KS was handled.

      Delete
    4. CAPCOM isn't Inafune or Comcept, and this is not even being developed by either. (I was also a backer of that terrible game.)

      There have also been several successful, and fantastic crowd-funded games, like: Shovel Knight, Superhot, Pillars of Eternity, FTL, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale, Night in the Woods...

      I won't back this either, but mostly because I don't think this is aimed at my demographic ... and because controlling Rockman with that controller looks truly awful.

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    5. Shovel Knight was good. Bloodstained was pretty good too.

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    6. I vaguely remember Bloodstained having a few hiccups, but I didn't back it so I didn't pay attention to it.

      I do appreciate the reassurance, Anon of September 8.

      Delete
    7. Yeah, Bloodstained had a few issues. But the game itself was fun, though honestly it took a few patches to get it there. A lot of people were annoyed with some of the bonuses like the sleeve and a few other things. I could care less about that stuff and didn't pay that close attention.
      I totally forgot about Shantae too. That games was a lot of fun. I don't recall any drama in that one.

      I thought with MN9, even though they cancelled a few platforms one could re-direct themselves to one of the platforms that were released? Not that it matters now. The game was free on PS+ and you can get it for like 5 bucks or less other ways, easy.

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    8. I don't recall the option coming up, unfortunately, because the development kept being quietly dropped by whoever was supposed to be working on it. Then it got passed to another developer who did the same thing. I don't have that kickstarter account anymore so it doesn't really matter at this point. Also I tried to get a chargeback and it didn't go through.

      Delete
    9. That sucks.

      Yeah, crowdfunding is a bit of a risk. I did a few, but kinda don't want to do any more. Definitely not through Kickstarter anymore.

      Delete
  2. I'm confused. Why is this a crowdfunding thing? Capcom isn't a small, or struggling company.

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    Replies
    1. I think Capcom is'nt making it. It's a licensed product. And Artec is not a big company as far i know.
      I still find it strange

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    2. This is a licensed product. Capcom isn't producing or developing it.

      Delete
  3. So, gun & shield mode gives you Proto Man, and a Control Stick mode gives you Dr. Wily. That sounds about right. Considering the Meg Buster Mode gives you Mega Man. Quite interesting, but you know, it's Scratch. Not the best programming language around TBH. But I suppose they considered it the most "easiest", or maybe the most "simple" to teach kids programming.

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  4. Is there a way to buy it outside Japan?

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